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We present a complete derivation of the semiclassical limit of the coherent state propagator in one dimension, starting from path integrals in phase space. We show that the arbitrariness in the path integral representation, which follows from the overcompleteness of the coherent states, results in many different semiclassical limits. We explicitly derive two possible semiclassical formulae for the propagator, we suggest a third one, and we discuss their relationships. We also derive an initial value representation for the semiclassical propagator, based on an initial gaussian wavepacket. It turns out to be related to, but different from, Heller's thawed gaussian approximation. It is very different from the Herman - Kluk formula, which is not a correct semiclassical limit. We point out errors in two derivations of the latter. Finally we show how the semiclassical coherent state propagators lead to WKB-type quantization rules and to approximations for the Husimi distributions of stationary states.
In this work, we discuss the resonance states of a quantum particle in a periodic potential plus static force. Originally this problem was formulated for a crystalline electron subject to the static electric field and is known nowadays as the Wannier-Stark problem. We describe a novel approach to the Wannier-Stark problem developed in recent years. This approach allows to compute the complex energy spectrum of a Wannier-Stark system as the poles of a rigorously constructed scattering matrix and, in this sense, solves the Wannier-Stark problem without any approximation. The suggested method is very efficient from the numerical point of view and has proven to be a powerful analytic tool for Wannier-Stark resonances appearing in different physical systems like optical or semiconductor superlattices.
The paper studies quantum states of a Bloch particle in presence of external ac and dc fields. Provided the period of the ac field and the Bloch period are commensurate, an effective scattering matrix is introduced, the complex poles of which are the system quasienergy spectrum. The statistics of the resonance width and the Wigner delay time shows a close relation of the problem to random matrix theory of chaotic scattering.
We study the transitions between the ground and excited Wannier states induced by a weak ac field. Because the upper Wannier states are several order of magnitude less stable than the ground states, these transitions decrease the global stability of the system characterized by the rate of probability leakage or decay rate. Using nonhermitian resonant perturbation theory we obtain an analytical expression for this induced decay rate. The analytical results are compared with exact numerical calculations of the system decay rate.
The quasienergy spectrum of a Bloch electron affected by dc-ac fields is known to have a fractal structure as function of the so-called electric matching ratio, which is the ratio of the ac field frequency and the Bloch frequency. This paper studies a manifestation of the fractal nature of the spectrum in the system "atom in a standing laser wave", which is a quantum optical realization of a Bloch electron. It is shown that for an appropriate choice of the system parameters the atomic survival probability (a quantity measured in laboratory experiments) also develops a fractal structure as a function of the electric matching ratio. Numerical simulations under classically chaotic scattering conditions show good agreement with theoretical predictions based on random matrix theory.